


sucker love, a box i choose

by Murf1307



Series: XMA Fic Bingo Fics [29]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Pre-Slash, i mean probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:06:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7625065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He isn't a mutant, but when he meets one, it's as though gravity comes back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sucker love, a box i choose

**Author's Note:**

> Bingo Prompt: vampire AU

Armando Munoz has seen much of the world over the several centuries he's been alive.  Wars, the collapse of empires, the building and dismantling of republics, the births and deaths of kings and presidents -- all of it, carefully watched as he hid away in the background.

He did what he could for people, especially during his time in the South, and in his youth in the Carribbean.  He knows the world is cruel.

But he can retreat from it, if he chooses.  He doesn't have to be part of it.

It is a privilege, immortality, and one he cannot morally share with others, even if he wants to, because the price would prove too great, in the end.

When the mutants come, at two in the morning, and slide into the backseat of his taxicab, he's surprised.  Especially when the prettier one asks him to join them on what is sure to be a madcap journey.  A fight against the end of the world.

They arrive, of course, to the Virginian compound at night.  Two beautiful girls and a reedy young man in thick glasses are already there.

He introduces himself, and explains that, to his knowledge, he's not a mutant.  He's something else.

They except that readily enough.

A week passes, and he remains away from sunlight; while it does not kill him, it does cause him pain in a way that nothing else does.  

And then, Xavier and Lehnsherr return, leading a young blonde man who will not meet anyone's eyes.  Armando, keen to make everyone comfortable, approaches him to introduce himself.

Then, their eyes meet, and something flips over in Armando's stomach.

He blinks, and continues, as he reads the match of his reaction in the young man's eyes.

"My name's Darwin.  I, uh, I'm not a mutant, exactly.  But I'm useful, for what we're doing here."  He extends his hand, the handshake almost an excuse just to touch.

"I'm Alex."  Tentatively, Alex takes Armando's hand, and his skin almost seems to burn.

It's as if he's made of sunlight, and Armando can't help staring at him.

He has the sinking feeling that this boy is going to kill him.

 

* * *

 

"So you're a vampire."  Alex says this, slipping down onto the couch and sliding sideways, his head landing on Armando's hip.  "At least, according to what the others have said."

"I am."  Armando.  "Though I'm old enough that I don't need blood as often."

"Wow."  Alex looks up at him, and it's so guileless, under his eyelashes, that Armando can't help but want him in a dozen ways.  "But if you wanted to, you could bite somebody and drink their blood."

"Yeah."  It's easy, almost, to slip into the syntax of the modern era, especially here, around all these young people, with Alex resting against his hip.

They are quiet, after that.  They don't talk about the gravity, or the burn.

 

* * *

 

"Man, you are _killing_  me."  Armando has fallen into it now, completely, being close to Alex.  It's as though this young man has brought him back to life, or at least into this century, in a way that nothing ever has before.

"I've had a lot of spare time."

Neither of them know that the world is about to change.

That everything is about to end.

When the world turns upside down, men raining from the sky because of a teleporting devil, Armando stays back, his instinct to protect the people who are more vulnerable than he is.

And when the time comes, and he meets Alex's eyes above their heads, that gravity between them makes it clear what they have to do -- or at least, it ensures that Alex will follow where he leads.  It's a half-thought wisp of a plan: fight, try to escape.

But they're cornered, trapped in the room where they'd began, and still, Alex is at his right hand.

It's comforting, when they don't know what's coming.

Sebastian Shaw has all the charm of a used car salesman, but it wins over Angel.  Armando turns to Alex, needing to be sure Alex will understand what he's about to do, what he will need Alex to do.

Alex mistakes him for a moment, and the betrayal in his eyes cuts like no knife can.

But then he understands.

Armando lies, and steps into line with Shaw's group.  And then, he does the extraordinary thing, the thing that matters: He calls Alex's name.

Alex's energy will hurt him, but with luck, it will destroy Shaw.

There is no luck tonight.

So he tries to fight, because he always does, but he's caught, hedged in, Shaw's hand on his jaw.

Alex's light in his mouth tastes like the sun.


End file.
